India-US ties at all-time high, says former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao

The comprehensive strategic partnership with the United States has emerged as India’s most important foreign policy relationship, former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said on Wednesday.

She was delivering the 17th Raja Ramanna Memorial Lecture at the National Institute of Advanced Studies here.

“The whole dimension and stage of the Indo-US relationship has changed and this has become one of the most important partnerships in the world, and certainly the most important foreign policy relationship for India today,” she said.

Nirupama, a former ambassador of India to the US, said the ties had grown in strength as seen in increased collaboration across sectors, including defence, space, energy, and critical and emerging technologies. 

“We need to negotiate the transactions of our relationship with the US in a way we can enhance and upgrade our own capabilities. This is the time to create the right regulatory environment,” she said. 

Nirupama said India’s position on the war in Ukraine was drawn on consideration of various factors — from its long-standing ties with Russia, specifically in defence and security, its history of non-alignment, and the continental challenges posed by China.

The new India, as the government calls it, did not want to be the “conscience keeper” of the world and its foreign policy has a realist streak, which is imperative in diplomacy.

“Despite what the West may call our studied neutrality on the issue of Ukraine, we remain a country that is voicing our concerns with candour, but we also want dialogue and diplomacy, and want the principles of the rules-based global order to be protected,” she said.